December 13, 2010

Brown to IR; Fox sticking with Clausen

The Panthers have a couple of personnel moves to make, but they won't include benching rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

Panthers coach John Fox said two defensive players will be placed on injured reserve with season-ending injuries.

Defensive end Everette Brown will require wrist surgery after he injured the wrist making a sack in Sunday's 31-10 loss to Atlanta. Linebacker Jason Williams, a midseason acquisition who became a starter because of injuries, has a torn ACL, Fox said.

Brown, the second-round pick in 2009, was in the midst of one of his best games against the Falcons, with 1.5 sacks, before he was injured.

“I think Everette's had a good year. He's been a little up and down,” Fox said. “But I thought he had a good day yesterday up until the injury, and I thought he became more productive here as of late.”

Fox said the Panthers had not finalized the roster moves to replace Brown and Williams.

Meanwhile, Fox indicated he would not be replacing Clausen, who fell to 0-7 as a starter with the loss to the Falcons. Clausen threw an interception against Atlanta and extended his streak of consecutive passes without a touchdown to 193.

After the game, Clausen apologized to linebacker Jon Beason for his poor play. The apology drew a rebuke from veteran wideout Steve Smith, who said Clausen should have been apologizing to his offensive teammates and added that Clausen wasn't at “Notre Dame anymore – that's for sure.”

But Fox reiterated his season-long stance, saying the Panthers' last-in-the-NFL offensive struggles go beyond the quarterback position and he “more than likely” would stick with Clausen.

--Joseph Person

Posted by Observer Sports on December 13, 2010 at 01:11 PM | Permalink

Comments

one day closer to locking up the number 1 pick.

Posted by: timmy tebow | Dec 13, 2010 1:19:07 PM

It is what it is...

Posted by: timmy tebow | Dec 13, 2010 1:22:42 PM

how many starters is that on IR now?

As tough as it is to get made fun of by all of my friends, I'm glad this season is happening. Fox may be proud of never having finished worse than 7-9, but maybe if we had finished 4-12 or 5-11 a cpl of those seasons, we would have better players in place!

Posted by: tom P | Dec 13, 2010 1:33:33 PM

I thought John Lynch had a great comment during the telecast yesterday. He was talking about how the Panthers and Falcons were going in opposite directions and said that the Falcons spent the last two seasons preparing to win a Super Bowl while the Panthers spent the last two seasons preparing for a lockout. Very well said Mr. Lynch.

Posted by: Beau | Dec 13, 2010 1:56:57 PM

@ tom P: not necessarily. They would have had a better spot in the draft but that doesn't mean the front office would suddenly become a better at evaluating talent. Quite possibly, the Panthers might have same (or worse) talent of players earning more money because of they were drafted higher.

Posted by: Claire Voyance | Dec 13, 2010 1:59:45 PM

"General manager Marty Hurney knows things aren’t very much fun right now for Carolina fans, but said after Sunday’s game he still believes the Panthers have made the right personnel decisions for the long-term future of the franchise."
And, he thinks better days are ahead.

“I don’t think that right now you are going to hear a positive word about us,” Hurney said on WBT-AM’s post-game radio call-in show. “That’s the business. I get it. When you’re 1-12, if you try to convince anybody else otherwise, they are just going to kill me because we’re 1-12. And I get it. I understand all of that.

“But I do think there is a plan in place and there is a foundation in place. I talked to a lot of people that do what I do in this league and basically if you’re in this (league) long enough, every team is in this situation at some point. It’s cyclical and then you start over.”

Hurney pointed out that things looked very glum in 2001 when the Panthers were 1-15, but that two years later they were in the Super Bowl. The Panthers should be in great shape next offseason if a salary cap is implemented with only $70 million committed to the 2011 roster, according to an estimate by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas.

Marty Hurney must not be seeing what I've been watching for the last 13 weeks of this season.

That's exactly whats wrong with this organization. They say they have a "plan" but they will never admit that they are ever wrong!

Hurney needs to get off the alcohol and sober up! Your plan hasn't worked and its time for a new plan and a newer GM in my opinion.

Posted by: PSL Holder / Jim M. | Dec 13, 2010 2:10:36 PM

4 winning seasons in franchise history

Posted by: james | Dec 13, 2010 2:14:33 PM

I wanted to say it before the season began but chose to stay positive instead. At this point, what's the point!? THIS IS EIRILY MUCH LIKE GEORGE SIEFERT'S LAST SEASON AS A COACH FOR THE PANTERS! This team was eitehr going to overcome all its obstacles and gel through adversity to surprise all the nay-sayers, or...!

Now we are also dealing with a QB with much potential as a rookie but is leading his squad to an embarrassing record. Chris Weinke anyone---but at least Weinke established a couple of rookie records---what has Clausen established (other than don't trust or believe what the "experts" promote over and over again---like Bill Cowhard)!?

Yep, once again Richardson has undermind his head coach and bloodlet his team to save money (youth movement sound familiar to you?)! As much as I appreaciate all the things Jerry has brought to the Carolinas, he should have learned from past mistakes (or at least from the other Jerry), and that is---PUBLICLY SUPPORT YOUR COACH OR DON'T MEDDLE AT ALL!!

Now what?

Posted by: SYRPIS | Dec 13, 2010 2:47:07 PM

@James---3 of those were under Fox! This tabloid and Mr. Hardjangles & sons, with their brillian good ol' boy policies (as in giving Kasay a rediculous extenstion two seasons ago, during the bye week, when he was already still under contract for a couple of more years and other major players were disputing their extenstions). That signaled the beginning of the end for the Fox tenure and for the success of this franchise for a while!

Good luck taking this puppy over Cowhard!!

Posted by: SYRPIS | Dec 13, 2010 2:50:48 PM

JR gave Fox the option to stay or leave. Fox decided to coach out the last year of his contract. He was aware of what was going to happen to this team in 2008. Last year was the last attempt at the status quo before they went with a youth movement.

Posted by: Mav | Dec 13, 2010 6:05:26 PM

Most QB's couldn't play well with holes in the O-line. He's a rookie. It will take time for him to develop. If the Panthers offense wasn't so predictable, maybe he could do a little better. When the management dumped the roster like they did, a season like this had to be expected, although a few more wins would have been nice. Trade the #1 pick for more picks and use those to shore up the offensive line and defensive back-field.

Posted by: Steeler and Panther fan | Dec 13, 2010 6:20:13 PM

John Fox will leave this team with the same record came in "1-15".

Posted by: Tony Z | Dec 13, 2010 7:27:08 PM

considering that 12 teams make the playoffs every year, 3 playoff births in a franchises first 16 seasons in a NON media hub is pretty stellar.

ask the jaguars.

you guys have unrealistic standards. fox has done an incredible job and people are calling for his head when they should be building statues of him and delhomme. spygate + kasay kicking out of bounds away from a superbowl. not that its a consolation but its something. you don't get to that point on accident. i've broken down every year under his tenure on here several times and the guy has only lost when he either hasn't had a healthy roster capable of doing ANYTHING in the league or last year when delhomme simply imploded.

its not like people are calling the panthers a talented bunch and that coaching is the problem. coaching hasn't been the problem in 9 years.

prior to that it was.

Posted by: charlottean | Dec 13, 2010 7:42:24 PM

sorry.....4 playoff births in 16 years.

Posted by: charlottean | Dec 13, 2010 7:46:46 PM

sorry . . . . 4 playoff BERTHS in 16 years.

Posted by: Denny's Owner | Dec 13, 2010 7:50:02 PM

Mav,
How do you arrive at the speculation that Richardson gave Fox an option of whether to coach or not? How is that even close to being true if Richardson was trying to save all of his money this year?

Posted by: Denny's Owner | Dec 13, 2010 7:53:00 PM

Can we put Jerry on the IR too? Ownership and management are clownshoes in my eyes... they pulled a classicly proactive manpower/overhead dump in hopes of a lockout... they rif'd a professional sports team; not sure thats ever been done with both the speed and visibility that he undertook starting last winter. Richardson should be pleased if he makes it through the off season without some PSL holders filing a class action suit... hell, I'm not a PSL holder and I'd donate to their legal fund if nothing more than to drag Jerry's ass in front of his core customers, his investors, under oath to either defend this abomination he calls an NFL team, or, show some effing backbone and give his fans some of their money back... in either case, it would nice to have some juicy internal memos pulled out by a court order for every fan that shows the mallice involved in something like this... you can't tell me that somewhere along the line Jerry didn't say "what? they're humble, honest, good people/fans... they'll just have to suck it up and I doubt they'll complain too much"

Posted by: Steve-o | Dec 13, 2010 7:59:26 PM

If Steve Smith wants to call people out then he should throw in himself and the O-line, instead of just Jimmy Clausen. He's had his share of dropped passes this year, and hasn't gotten open nearly as much as he used to. As for the O-line, their play speaks for itself.

Posted by: Nate | Dec 13, 2010 8:06:59 PM

Losing Everette Brown is no big deal. He has been a waste of the 1st and second round picks used to draft him.

Posted by: David | Dec 13, 2010 8:27:16 PM

@Steve-O... I have been wondering the same thing. Is Richardson accountable for providing a poor product when he "promised" something else to PSL owners who are in fact his business partners as much as they are his customers. Richardson's scheme is a scam.

Posted by: Stumpy | Dec 13, 2010 9:28:52 PM

Stick with Clausen and we shall lose with Clausen. Look at the other QB rookies in the league. Who has the worst rating? Who has the worst W/L record? Who has the lowest yards per completion? Who has the slowest feet? If this is our francjise, we should expect a few more 1-15's in the upcoming years.
And Hurney....you have more busts than good picks in the drafts. It isn't cyclical for all teams. Think I'll buy you a barrel of chap stick for Christmas. That's the only way you have kept your job....some serious butt kissing has to have been going on. Fox also has plain given up this year. He is not even going through the motions. Who did he hire as the conditioning coach to have so many on IR this year?

Posted by: Steve Gilmore | Dec 13, 2010 9:49:49 PM

Its not that the Panthers are losing its HOW they are losing..The lios have only one 3 games but they have been in all except 2 and have had the lead in 10 games..The Panthers aren't giving any hope with their performance on the field and it goes beyond qb as most of the post have said..they are not stopping anybody defensively

Posted by: david | Dec 13, 2010 9:59:30 PM

Why not give Edwards a shot? What the heck do we have to lose?

Posted by: Frustrated PSL Owner | Dec 13, 2010 10:12:34 PM

@ david... I guess the obvious reason we are not even competitive is that we have an extremely poor team that is not coached very well, and lacks in talent at nearly every position. It's going to take a whole lot of ocean to turn this battleship around

Posted by: Stumpy | Dec 13, 2010 10:43:10 PM

Playing Edwards might Wreck all the decisions made in 2010. Edwards would without a doubt be competitive, maybe the same reason Vick was not welcomed in Carolina last year. What a Great Decision.